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Welcome to my blog , The Hare Illustratère. I'll be posting about my art process and journey as an illustrator/author here. To find out more about my whimsical & elegant illustrations on nifty things you can buy, please Visit my other blog, The Art Hare's Wares.

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Thursday, January 22, 2015

Being a freelance illustrator, or as I prefer an independent illustrator, means life doesn't always hum along smoothly. In fact it usually means life moves at a herky jerky pace. Somedays you're rushing to meet deadlines. Other days you're wearing a hole in the rug with your pacing as you wait for art directors & buyers to make a decision on your art. Then there are the lulls between jobs when you're waiting, just waiting for something to happen, checking your e-mail, phone, twitter feed anything. And yes, I believe this kind of waiting is the worst.

In a perfect world, life as an illustrator would hum along, full of wonderful, creative, well paying dream assignments, projects. And of course all your clients would give you due dates that gave you ample time and your art would be rubber stamped OK. But real life sucks. And I bet all your deadlines, like mine, seem to clump together on the same days no matter how hard you try to schedule them. Which means you're waiting to hear back from everyone at the same time...always. In between those mad rush periods there are stretches of nothingness.

So what's the trick to keep yourself from getting too nutty? I mean after you've gotten bored with walking in circles and starring at your in-box what's next. May I suggest a list and a mind shift?

I keep a list of back burner projects. These could be anything from messing with my new color pencils, participating in a group art challenge, to working on a picture book dummy. A trick I learned as a mom was that big projects can be broken down to it's smallest components. Keep working those small bits and eventually that picture book dummy gets done.

Now for the mind shift. Think of yourself as an Independent Creative. Freelance Artist, Independent Artist, don't they mean the same thing? Yes. Perhaps. But here's the implied difference as a freelance artist your'e looking for freelance work or looking to be hired, commissioned, assigned. You work as a freelancer. In other words looking and waiting for someone to say yes. However as an independent artist you may be looking for freelance work BUT you are also coming up with your own projects perhaps even self-publishing. You are no longer just waiting for someone to give you a project. You can come up with your own. Granted you may still be submitting that project and waiting for approval or putting it out there yourself and waiting for sales. Unfortunately the waiting part can't be helped.

So Diana, you say, noticed that your website says: Diana Ting Delosh is an illustrator/author. She creates whimsical and elegant art, independently and by assignment. Why aren't you calling yourself an independent... Well for awhile I did, but then I kept getting queries about whether I took on freelance assignments. Duh!

Thursday, January 1, 2015

It's that time again. Time for list making and reviewing the past year, all in hopes of making the new year a better year. So what have I resolved to do to make 2015 my best year ever or at least a better year? I won't bore you with my whole list but I will share a few that may be relevant to other illustrators, creatives and freelancers.

FINISH Things!
I seem to have ended 2014 with a slew of unfinished projects or things in need of revisions etc. Probably because in between jobs I worked on personal projects but had to put them aside until... Now I have a lot of loose ends that need tying up and they're bugging me. So - I will continue to create furiously BUT I will do my best to finish them, beginning with those pesky projects that are haunting me.

Build up my Illustration Portfolio
There's always room for improvement. More Black & White art: line and grayscale art. People. I love drawing animals but I need more people in my portfolio. Continue having fun with hand lettering. Lastly, experiment with a new illustration technique or two. Have fun. Keep it fresh. If you don't enjoy your art you can't expect someone else to.

4 Postcard Mailings
I've been resolving to do 3 - 4 Postcard mailings for years but last year was the first in long time that I actually did 3 mailings. One of the things I "got" in 2014 because I finally figured it out. Step 1 - Update my Master List as I go. Step 2 - Create lots of new art -so I have something to pick from when it's time to create a new promo postcard. Must create to have something to promote.

Document my creative process
In 2014 I sketched/created oodles more than in previous years but half the time I never posted/tweeted etc. about it. Unfortunately in the digital age it seems as if things only exist if you have posted tweeted or shared it digitally in some fashion. I am resolving to blog/share with purpose to get the "right" eyes on my art.